Before you decide how much to eat, you need one number: your TDEE — the total calories you burn in a day. Eat below it to lose weight, at it to maintain, above it to gain. A free calorie calculator works it out from your body and activity, then turns it into a daily target and a protein/carb/fat split.
BMR vs TDEE
- BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate): the calories your body burns at complete rest, just keeping you alive.
- TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure): your BMR multiplied by an activity factor — the real number you burn including movement and exercise.
This calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, the most accurate general BMR formula validated in research:
Men: BMR = 10×kg + 6.25×cm − 5×age + 5
Women: BMR = 10×kg + 6.25×cm − 5×age − 161
A real example
Male, 30, 5'10" (178 cm), 176 lbs (80 kg), lightly active
- BMR: 1,768 kcal
- TDEE (maintenance): 2,431 kcal
- To lose ~1 lb/week: 1,931 kcal (a 500-calorie deficit)
- To gain ~1 lb/week: 2,931 kcal
A deficit of about 500 calories a day equals roughly 1 pound (0.45 kg) of fat loss per week — the sustainable pace most guidelines recommend.
How to calculate yours
- Open the free calorie calculator
- Choose imperial or metric, then enter sex, age, height and weight
- Pick your activity level (be honest — most people overestimate)
- Select a goal — lose, maintain, or gain
- Read your BMR, TDEE, daily target and macros
Macros, not just calories
Calories decide weight; macros decide how you look and feel. The calculator splits your target into protein, carbs and fat. On a 1,931-calorie cut with a balanced split:
- Protein: ~145 g
- Carbs: ~193 g
- Fat: ~64 g
Switch to the High Protein preset when cutting to preserve muscle — common targets are 0.7–1 g of protein per pound of bodyweight.
Every goal at once
Instead of recalculating, the tool shows a table of daily calories for all five goals — aggressive loss, mild loss, maintenance, mild gain, and gain — so you can see your whole range in one view and adjust as your results come in over 2–4 weeks.
Works in imperial (ft/in, lbs) or metric (cm, kg), and runs entirely in your browser — nothing is stored.
Related Tools
- BMI calculator with imperial and metric units — check where your weight sits against healthy ranges before setting a calorie target
- convert kg to lbs and cm to inches free — switch body measurements between units if your scale and your plan don't match
- free mortgage calculator with PMI and taxes — another free, no-signup calculator from the same toolkit for when you're planning the bigger numbers
Find your TDEE, daily target and macros with the free calorie calculator →
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